But it’s more than a kiss. Everything seems more when it’s with him.
His lips meet mine, mouth opening, sucking on my lower lip for one wet, hot moment before deepening all the way through. I am so amped up and fileted at the same time, one kiss undoing me before we even have a chance to begin.
Somehow I manage to extract myself and drive, though my lips still burn from where he just was, and I’m tempted to run my fingers across them, to keep the friction going.
He adjusts himself in his seat, legs splayed, trying to fit his body in my small front seat, and I’m reminded of after the rugby game, when we were both wet and muddy and coming back to his place for the first time. That feels like ages ago. Of course, back then he wasn’t trying to play down an obvious erection in his dress pants.
“Want to hear some good news?” he says lightly after a few minutes.
“Of course.”
“Ed got adopted,” he says rather proudly.
“Really?”
He nods. “Aye. A local foster-to-adopt program got back to me and said they had someone interested. She and her husband came by to see him this morning and they fell in love. Ed’s gone.”
“Aww,” I tell him, and my heart flutters like a bird in flight. Not just because he was able to home a dog who needed it, but because I can hear the warmth in his voice, like honey, like happiness. “I’m so happy for him. And you.”
He shrugs. “I did what I could do. I’m just glad it paid off.”
“And Emily?”
“She’s at home. Sad little gal, she is. But once I get her to Edinburgh, she’ll be good.”
“I guess she’ll be coming with us to Napa?”
He glances at me, brow creased in concern. “Is that all right?”
“One hundred percent,” I tell him emphatically. “I just hopes she learns to trust me at some point.”
“She will, love,” he says, gazing out the window as we go over the Bay Bridge. “We all come around after a while.”
It’s not long before we’re at my mom’s and I’m pulling the car to the curb.
“Lovely place,” Lachlan says as he gets out of the car, staring up at the house. It doesn’t look like much in the twilight, but he sounds impressed.
“It used to be really nice,” I tell him, my voice hushed as I open the low gate into the yard. “When I grew up here, anyway.”
“It’s still lovely,” he says. He reaches down and grabs my hand and holds onto it, giving it a squeeze. Strength feeds into me from his grip, washing away the sadness and the memories of the after period.
We walk up the front steps, hand in hand, me and my beast, and before I can knock on the door, it opens and my mother pokes her head out.
She peers at me for only a second before her eyes drift over to Lachlan. They widen. She looks him up and down, and I can’t help but mimic her. Because it’s got to be cool to have two ladies giving you the eye at once.
Luckily Lachlan is all charm. He smiles politely and gives her the slightest of nods.
“Mom,” I say to her.
She nearly glares at me. “This is the man? This is the man you bring home?”
I look back at Lachlan and he meets my eyes, a half smile on his lips, his brows raised.
“Well…” I say to her but she wags her finger at me to shut up. At least she isn’t acting as frail as she sounded on the phone.
“This is the man you bring home,” she says again, leaving the door and walking over to Lachlan. He lets go of my hand to offer it to her. “And yet you have never brought him before?”
I laugh in relief. “Sorry, Mom. He’s kind of new.”
“And I’m kind of charmed by you,” Lachlan says, kissing the back of her hand, his eyes smiling. Holy shit. I’ve never seen him be so utterly charismatic before, and from the fullness in my mom’s cheeks, I can tell she’s just as impressed.
“Oh my,” she says, looking at me with a big grin. “Kayla, you have done very, very well.”